Using a BT dongle with the USB port on the WF32

Created Mon, 15 Dec 2014 03:09:18 +0000 by cblackburn1099

cblackburn1099

Mon, 15 Dec 2014 03:09:18 +0000

Question.

Is there any way to use a bluetooth dongle on a WF32?

majenko

Mon, 15 Dec 2014 10:10:02 +0000

While "everything is possible", not everything is easy, at least not for mere mortals.

In order to use a normal cheap PC bluetooth dongle you would need to do the following:

1. Write a driver to access the device on the USB stack (there isn't one written).
2. (possibly) Write a system to upload the firmware to the SDR chip in the dongle.
3. Write an entire bluetooth stack for the PIC32.

Since a PC Bluetooth dongle is usually just an SDR chip with a USB interface, it has no real intelligence of its own. All the bluetoothiness is done on the PC in the form of the bluetooth stack (Bluez on Linux, for instance). Without that all you have is a lump of silicon.

So you're better off using a Bluetooth host shield in the traditional Arduino way.

cblackburn1099

Mon, 15 Dec 2014 14:07:36 +0000

yea that's what i figured, I was just curious as to how they worked :D